third space: on becoming by n:ow arts

Evangel is a final-year Theatre Studies major at NUS and creates art as a way to understand the world around her. Whilst she has involved herself in other forms like exhibitions and photography, her work is mainly rooted in theatre. She engages with it deeply through performance, directing, and writing. on becoming has been her most challenging project yet, marked by its scale and newness. However, for her, this is how she’s growing as an artist and person — through experimentation and a dedication to the process. She is grateful for her dedicated team, thoughtful mentors, and the trust and support of OSA-CFA third space, without whom this would not have been possible.

Brian Gothong Tan (b. 1980), a leading Singaporean multidisciplinary artist, is celebrated for innovative theater, film, and installations. A California Institute of the Arts graduate (2005, Shell-NAC Scholarship), he has garnered multiple awards, including five Life! Theatre Awards for multimedia design (2005–2024). His works, blending eclectic multimedia, have toured globally (Italy, USA, UK, Korea) and featured in major exhibitions like Heavenly Cakes and Sentimental Flowers (Singapore Art Museum, 2003) and Hypersurface (Venice Architectural Biennale, 2004). He represented Singapore at the Commonwealth Games (2006) and Shanghai World Expo (2010).

Honoured with the Young Artist Award (2012) and Singapore Youth Award (2015), Tan serves as T:>Works’ Atelier artistic director and is Creative Director for NDP 2024. Current endeavours include revamping NMS’ Glass Rotunda and Heart & Soul at Library@Orchard.

Syafiq Halid is a manipulator of sound, an electronic artist and an experimental percussionist based in Singapore. His experience spans traditional, multidisciplinary and contemporary performance projects as an artist, sound designer and composer. He has presented work in Asia Pacific such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia and has worked with collaborators and companies at platforms like the Esplanade, National Gallery Singapore, ArtScience Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Nusasonic, Goethe Institute. *SCAPE and Bus Projects.

Summoning sounds, aesthetics, metaphors, and experiences of the Malay world, Syafiq's compositions traverse the grey realms that exist between the traditional and the contemporary. His creations deconstruct, exploit, bastardise and reimagine these sounds, manifesting them into an experimental sonic language unique to Southeast Asia. His explorations speak deeply to the realities and fluctuations of living and being Malay in Singapore and the region. They compel us to confront our relationship with the region through artistic and cultural wisdoms rooted deep within us.

Yi Wei is in her final semester at NUS, and on becoming has felt like a Final Year Project, one that feels like a perfect goodbye to the place where she first fell in love with storytelling and videography. 

Having only picked up her first camera and video editing a year ago, this was a beast of a project to take on. Yet on becoming has affirmed her desire to grow as a videographer and to keep telling stories like this, the ones that are less heard, but matter just as much.

Tzee Yen is a final year Psychology student, who has been spending most of her time doing arts-related projects. She tends to be involved in the managerial roles and her recent projects as a stage manager are Stage Fright! by NUS Stage (2025) and King by Jo Tan (2025). 

She is excited to continue pushing boundaries in art-making, such as designing multimedia for on becoming. She enjoys the vibrancy and remarkable experiences of the arts, whether creating or producing arts events. 

n:ow arts is her safe space with her trusted friends and she is grateful for all the support along the way. 

Tiff is an engineering grad who has dabbled in several arts: acapella singing, graphic design, photography and most recently, comedy playwriting. Currently, she designs apps for a living. 

Her desire to broaden her experience with multimedia and videography led her to join on becoming as a Visual team member. She credits the arts with helping to expand her worldview, meet lovely community members and shape a large part of her own sense of self. 

She hopes that participants of the exhibit will enjoy the multisensory experience and engage meaningfully with the themes of gender expression and self-discovery <3

Hang Bin is a fourth-year Computer Science major who enjoys exploring both the technical and aesthetic. He has experience writing fanfiction and short stories, acting in improvisational theatre (with @nusc_improv), developing games, and producing visual/video content. He deeply appreciates how others in the arts have been broadening his perspective on life even today, and wishes to play a similar role himself, recolouring the world with a dash more vibrancy for those around.

shen hao is a recent graduate from NUS, majoring in Philosophy and Theatre Studies, who spent almost his entire university life creating performances. He co-founded n:ow arts last year with the hope of expanding the boundaries and vocabulary of art-making, both on campus and beyond.

n:ow arts has since become a space for him to gather and experiment with a range of skills. With dear cfa, (2024), which he directed, co-wrote, and performed in, he learnt how to make verbatim theatre. With I(n) Nature (2024), which he co-directed and performed in, he learnt how to move. And n:ow, with on becoming, he has ventured into olfactory design, installation design, and even textile design.

He is excited to see where this journey takes him next.

Renee is a third-year NUS student majoring in Theatre and Performance Studies, second majoring in Performing Arts (Contemporary Dance), and minoring in Sociology. She currently trains in NUS Dance Synergy where she previously served as President, and has co-directed and choreographed the dance-theatre work The Waltz at Lover’s Garden (2025), choreographed for NUS Dance Ensemble’s equilibrium? (2025), and was a co-deviser and performer for n:ow arts’ I(n) Nature: Part 1 (2025). Renee is devoted to developing herself as an artist who investigates life and humanity through her own curious and whimsical lens.

Shrinidhi is a recent graduate who has never been curious about the olfactory element of things until she joined this collaboration. After working with different scents and analysing their meanings, she understood its role in affecting our mood and memories (wow, having a nose is so cool!) and hopes that the audience can also derive the same conclusion after going through the exhibits.

Kai Ling is a fourth year Global Studies and Theatre Studies major who believes that the arts should be a platform to spark conversations about the larger world. Her main form of expression has been in theatre be it performing, writing or stage managing. Her recent credits include: Ensemble in NUS Stage’s Stage Fright! (2025) and Assistant Stage Manager for Gateway Hearts 2025. on becoming is the first time she is dabbling with sound design and she is excited to expand her repertoire as a developing arts maker through experimentation. She is extremely grateful to her peers in n:ow arts, the student collaborators who hopped on this crazy journey with them, and the mentors and OSA-CFA staff that guided their way. 

Mahima is a Y4 Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major. Her main artforms are creative writing and music, but she’s also tried photography, short videos, drawing, and dancing. She currently serves as a Creative Tutor at NUS College. Her works have been published in Kopi Break Journal, Mahogany Journal, and elsewhere. She is excited for you to check out her stuff at noonherd.wordpress.com. 

Violet Yang is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in music production and sound design. She is currently a Year 4 NUS student studying for a Master's in Psychology, and was the president of NUS Electronic Music Lab in AY23/24. Outside of NUS, she releases horrorsynth metal music under the artist alias VYLT and has been featured on various outlets including FEMALE Magazine, The Straits Times and Life In Arpeggio. Violet's involvement with ‘on becoming’ is pushing her capabilities, being her first foray into surround sound design. The project is also greatly personal to her, reflecting her own journey of self-identity.

This is Jia Ying’s last performance in Singapore (for now). 

She is a recent graduate whose memories of university are mostly of the arts. 4 years, 3 arts groups, 8 theatrical shows, 7 band performances, 11 songs and 3 scripts later, she has to move on to other places and priorities. Although wherever she goes, she hopes to forever continue pursuing the arts in any capacity. 

Jia Ying is deeply grateful for all of the opportunities and the friends she has made along the way.